Post by J-Dawg on Jul 26, 2011 19:20:55 GMT -8

So, I now own a Technics SL-1200 MK5, of 2010 vintage. The guy selling it no longer had the rubber mat, only the DJ slipmat, so I ordered a replacement rubber mat online (found a store that still has the original technics parts for a reasonable price).

The cartridge I was sold with the turntable is a Shure M44-7 which I will be replacing in the near future with something less DJ-ish. It worked well enough for a little test drive.

I haven't yet decided on a preamp. My listening so far is via a DJ mixer I borrowed from a friend.

Post by Shaxspear III Esq. on Jul 27, 2011 9:27:15 GMT -8

The M44-7 is what I used to dj. It's a reasonable price, decent sound, and was at the time the most stable needle for scratching. Hold onto it because if you have any old vinyl that has scratches, that needle might hold up to it.

Post by J-Dawg on Jul 27, 2011 16:27:12 GMT -8

Post by J-Dawg on Jul 27, 2011 16:41:55 GMT -8

And I also picked up a couple of previously-enjoyed selections from my friendly local new/used record store to celebrate the new turntable.

I thought the particular choices might amuse others on the board. I had neither of these 2 in my current collection of digital / CD music, so figured they'd be good ones to add. I've listened to them before, of course, just never owned them.

Post by J-Dawg on Aug 1, 2011 14:27:05 GMT -8

So, I now have a substantial collection of vintage vinyl. Namely, 227 albums worth (my dad's old collection). He hasn't listened to any of it in at least a decade. Unfortunately, some of it became slightly warped in storage but it's generally in at least decent shape. I honestly have no idea what's all in there yet, although a quick flip through surfaced the following:

Post by J-Dawg on Aug 1, 2011 14:58:39 GMT -8

I found a few more gems on a quick runthrough. Lots of stuff I don't ever remember them even playing when I was a kid. Now I'm genuinely curious which of these albums were mom's and which were dad's. I always thought of them as dad's growing up, and while most of them definitely are, there are some that have to be mom's in here too.

Post by J-Dawg on Aug 2, 2011 20:33:10 GMT -8

I decided on buying an Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge. General Audio here in town had it priced competitively with online retailers for the same cart ($199 CDN). When I get some time I'll have to get it installed, aligned, etc. I may miss the WOMP of the Shure on some albums like Exit Planet Dust and Divergent Spectrum which I pre-ordered, but I'm excited to see what the Ortofon sounds like. I'm keeping the Shure in any event, since some of my dad's vinyl is in less than stellar shape and I might need it.

Post by J-Dawg on Aug 22, 2011 21:51:54 GMT -8

Well, the Ortofon cartridge knows how to WOMP. Listened to Sleigh Bells' Treats which I picked on on vacation, and holy shit... I haven't checked the mail yet, but if my vinyl for Divergent Spectrum has arrived, I'll be womping tomorrow night too :-)

It's definitely a little more dodgy on the stuff from my dad's collection that's more-than-slightly warped, but still very happy with how it performs on everything else. I'll probably use the Shure to rip what I can from the damaged records to MP3s. I already own a Mackie firewire audio interface, I just need to patch it in to my stereo system.

Thanks again to those who contributed to this thread over the past few months - I'm enjoying the turntable immensely.